Strs Ohio Buys 800 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Strs Ohio grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,300 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.07% of OceanFirst Financial worth $734,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of OCFC. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $176,000. Bailard Inc. bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 42.5% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,725 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $184,000 after purchasing an additional 3,796 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 47.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,334 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seizert Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% during the third quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 144,735 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,094,000 after acquiring an additional 4,299 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on OCFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target (down from $22.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Monday. Raymond James dropped their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. TheStreet upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, April 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.20.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of OCFC opened at $15.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $906.64 million, a PE ratio of 8.91 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $12.01 and a 1 year high of $19.58.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.25%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

About OceanFirst Financial

OceanFirst Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for OceanFirst Bank N.A. that provides community banking services to retail and commercial customers. It accepts money market accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, non-interest-bearing accounts, and time deposits, that includes brokered deposits to retail, government, and business customers.